UlsterNet.co.uk

Going for gold at Greenmount

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Hayley Yelling headlines at Greenmount next weekend. GA025602RA

Euro champ Yelling quietly confident before Antrim test

HAYLEY Yelling, the newly crowned European Cross Country Champion, has confirmed that she will compete in the Antrim IAAF Cross Country International at Greenmount Campus on Saturday January 23.
Some three weeks ago at Santry, Dublin, British international Yelling, who turned 36 this week, caused the biggest European Cross Country upset in years.
She destroyed an elite field with a devastating display of front running to take victory by seven seconds from runner-up Morato of Spain.
It was hailed as an extraordinary achievement, given that the Windsor athlete had only returned to training four weeks previously having announced her retirement a year ago after the 2008 Europeans in Brussels.
An ecstatic Yelling said after her win that she was 'stunned' - her main aim simply being to make the British team.
After her win in the Liverpool trials she said she was determined to 'go out hard and hang on as long as possible'.
With such risky tactics she expected most of the field to overtake her, as her recent training had only involved a limited amount of mileage. However, the gamble paid off handsomely with her determined front running leading Britain to silver team medals behind Portugal.

Hayley's ambitions prior to her Dublin victory may, however, have been a little modest as she has been Britain's most consistently successful cross country runner over the past 15 years.
She has appeared 12 times in the European Cross Country with no less than seven top-six finishes, including her first European win in 2004.
She is also no stranger to Northern Ireland. The part-time maths teacher won the Stormont International two years ago by six seconds from Britain's Kathy Butler and in 2003 she finished second to Kenya's Worknesh Kidane.
The British men's team also prospered as a group in the European's in Dublin securing second place overall and a silver medal with great effort on the sixth race of the day and subsequently quagmire course.
Andy Vernon (AFD) and Mike Skinner (Blackheath and Bromley) fought for the team position with 12th and 13th finishes, ahead of a strong field. Both athletes will compete in Antrim on the 23rd providing strong opposition for local and Irish athletes.
Already announced for the Antrim International is European Junior Cross Country bronze medallist, Kate Avery.
Previous winners of the IAAF International meeting which started way back in 1977 have included world and Olympic champions. Notable names have included Paula Radcliffe, Paul Tergat, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, John Tracey, Khalid Skah, Sergey Lebid, Liz McColgan, Brendan Foster plus a host of other world class Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.
The event is one of eleven IAAF permitted cross country races in the world and is part of the UK McCain Cross Challenge Series.
The well-established series is the focus of the domestic endurance running scene over the winter months and this year it has been given a boost by the support of Antrim Borough Council.

Subscribe to read full newspaper »

Send this page to a friend »